SnowOwl, by Nathan Medlock

Introduction: SnowOwl, by Nathan Medlock

Hello Fans of SnowOwl, Here is, I hope, a much better set of instructables for you to enjoy and do stuff! You need these prerequisites: 123DSculpt, free on the App Store by Autodesk, the Creature 3 add on (0.99 cents in-app), and that's about it. The feathers I use in this instructable are in the feathers & fur image files that come in-app ready to use! Not bad.

It SHOULD be noted. The pictures in this following step-by-step are understood to read top to bottom and left to right as far as instructional setup. ENJOY !

Step 1: Step One

Step One:

After reading my intro you should be some where looking at this top image in the first colage here. The creature 3 pack, as mentioned in the intro, gives you a snake, a kangaroo, this flying owl, and I think a yak.

Part 1: Pick the flying owl .obj you can see from the Top Center image and it will open to the left middle frame of the picture which is the default opening editing screen.

Part 2: In the middle right frame you will notice (after selecting the bottom left editing option from the LEFT HAND set of tools. Pick the one with the stars. As far as I can tell, owls feathers grow from the inside near the body outwards unto it's wings so there for, in order to recreate this effect you must do your image scratching from the outside of the wings in towards the body for proper real-life layering effect =) This is the image rub tool which allows you to pick from a selection of various pre-loaded textures and images, pretty handy for layering once you figure out overlapping and patterns. You'll find the feathers I used for the SnowOwl are the default image used by the scratch feature.

Part 3: Bottom left Image. This image is the result of lining up the feathers to the furthest tip of the owl's wings and making sure the owl's position is of the under side of the bird facing the top of the screen. Line up the feathers to the tip of the wing and proceed to "rub" the screen by using just one finger. The image is transferred to the spot you desired! I tend to run the opacity at about 25% to %50 depending on how fine of blending the layers together requires and I always start small with the side of the pointer. These to options can be change at the bottom of the screen and are useful for all the tools in 123d Sculpt.

Part 4: In the Bottom Right right image I am continuing to add layers using the same position of the owl but moving slightly to the center of the object. Really, the technique requires getting familiar with the image rub tool and getting use to using the bottom two sliders for you image opacity and pointer size.

ALSO: REMEMBER! The < undo and redo> arrows, which lay on the upper set of toolbar options are an editor's best friend! And save often by clicking on the + PLUS button which is just to the left of the <undo redo> buttons. These are general editing principals of anything digital =)

Step 2: Step Two: Flip Your Bird!

Time to turn the bird:

Part 1: After navigating your owl object so it sits upright on the screen. You want to continue using the image rub tool to fill on the blanks of the object and to bring the feathers of the bird layered properly, from the outside in towards the center of the image. It should be noted. In order to affect the wings equally with your image the synchronize option should be toggled. It's the hour glass icon in the top set of tools to the right of the <undo redo> buttons.

Part 2: Words of encouragement! The next part I'd like to say keep trying and getting familiar, it took me several different models and trials of me working with developing my own technique to get the hang of image layering, so keep hanging in there!

Part 3: Trial and Error! I referenced google Images for insight on the direction and flow of the owl's feathers and noticed they start heading from Head to tail just near the center of the wings upon the back. Position the owl underneath the image with the desired direction of the feathers and use your finger to pick the spot you'd like to feather out. Using a smaller size pointer and softer opacity was key during this spot and creates a much better feel of blending of feathers.

Step 3: Step 3: Repeat After Me

Part one: The following set of images show the rest of the pattern I was able to create on the top side of the bird Scale is important as well and the app uses pinch to zoom features which allow you to bring your object closer or further away. By spinning and circling the object under the image you can begin to fill in the top side of the owl. BE CAREFUL not to rub over certain parts of the outter wings or body that you may already be happy with. The eye/ball? feature while using image rub lets you still rub the image but without having to see the image. This is useful once familiar with the process as it can allow for much more view of the details during editing.

Step 4: Step Four: We Want More!

Details, details, details. To get better in every part of life, it's all about the details. The following set of images reads left to right and top to bottom and makes use of the grab tool (which is the third option from the bottom) on you Left Hand set of tools

Part One: In order to further bring our owl to life, I decided to make use of the "grab tool" and set the edges of the owls wings apart from the wing themselves. In order to do this, you must make the "grab" as small as possible. This means using a 1 as your setting down on the bottom left hand side of the tools on the bottom of the screen.

Part Two: After a bit more of some trial and error <undo this, redo> that, you can get the wings looking like this. Image 2 on the Top Right side of the screen. It just takes a bit of soft touch and patience to drag the tips away from the wing.

Part Three: Distortion can happen to your image but that's ok. Dragging an object with an image tends to distort the image during the dragging process so in order to re-apply the feathers, go back into your image-rub tool and line the feathers so they fit in the tips of the dragged out wing tips.

Step 5: Step Five: It's ALIVE!!!!!!!

Some say what's in a face? I say, EVERYTHING! In order to get the right details for this part of the instructable we'll be making use of the image-rub of feathers and also the darkest black color for the beak.

Part 1: An owl's face, according to my overview of images, become much more softer in color and tone. No editing of colors is needed but the opacity, in the bottom right slider of the bottom of the screen, will let you give a much softer effect around the face.

Part 2: NOW'S A GOOD TIME TO SAVE! Hit that "plus" + in the top menu of the screen and hop back to work. The Middle Left Image of the picture below shows the results of a nice soft image-rub. Sounds silly but, the softer the image effect here the better and with the image-rub tool a little can go a long way.

Part 3: From a side profile of the owl's face you'll notice this little scamp needs a beak! Let's go ahead and select the second form the bottom on the RIGHT Hand Side of options. The paint tool. The bottom right corner of the color pallet is black. This will do fine.

Part 4: The trick here is to be cautious in selecting your size of the brush, very small is recommended. Paint on the black being careful not to get some bleeding of black onto the face of the owl. this happens through digitial magic and can be reset using <undo redo> buttons.

Part 5: It's ALIVE!!!! Ok, Halloween fans, come on ;)

Step 6: Step Six: What Great Big Eye's You Have!

Times almost there where this owl is feeling good!

Part 1: Time for some Eyes! From the Image-Rub tool you'll be able to find the Eyes package of images. I picked the yellow and black eyes as seen in the Top Right Image of the pictures bellow. The reason I tilted the head here was for the way the head of the owl was positioned in relation to the eye image itself. I felt that using just one eye on one side and letting the synchronize tool helps recreate a more realistic positioning of the eyes. The synchronized tool is the hour glass looking feature at the TOP OF THE Screen and has been used throughout most of this tutorial.

Part 2: Double Check! After observing your owl, you'll notice weather or not the position of the eyes is to your liking. <redo, undo> if necessary and feel free to experiment with different eyes if that's what you want to do!

Part 3: The Images from the Middle Right down and as follows are the screen shots you can do inside of 123d Sculpt by clicking on the Camera Icon at the TOP of YOUR Screen. This takes you to a rendering screen that lets you capture images as well as videos of your Owl.

Step 7: I Hope This Was an Enjoyable Enstructable!

Thanks to SAndrew for recommending this project to me! I hope it's a good one and it may take me a bit to reply but I will try! Happy Modeling!